H.S. TENNIS: Luck runs out for ORR, Dartmouth doubles

Both of Old Rochester's doubles teams hit the wall in Saturday's MIAA South Sectional quarterfinals, which were hosted by the Bulldogs on their Mattapoisett campus.

STAFF REPORT

Both of Old Rochester's doubles teams hit the wall in Saturday's MIAA South Sectional quarterfinals, which were hosted by the Bulldogs on their Mattapoisett campus.

ORR's No. 1, Kyle MacDonald and Lauren Anderson, lost their 4-5 matchup to Notre Dame's Amanda Smith and Kathleen Colpoys, 7-6 (5), 6-3, and the second team of Christina Cady and Allison White was defeated, 6-0, 6-2, by Needham's top team of Rachel Bergeron and Sandra Hyams.

"(Cady and White) played better than the score indicated," said ORR coach Bob Hohne. "We played well, but they were the better team."

Led by Bergeron, a returning sectional doubles champion and cog in the Rockets' 2006 state team championship, Needham advanced to today's 10 a.m. final against Barnstable's Jessica Francis and Kortney Kelley.

Anderson and MacDonald, who along with Cady/White, Caseley Brodie-Gifford and Michaela Shoemaker were named SCC all-stars, let a first-set lead slip away. They scrambled to get into the tiebreak, but errors did them in.

"We had already planned practice on Monday morning, and they said 'Now we really know what we really need to work on,'" said Hohne. "They've had a lot of easy matches. They understood the value of a point more than they had all season."

On the boys side in Barnstable, Dartmouth's top team of James Baptista and Jon Eisenberg lost, 6-1, 6-4, to Falmouth No. 1 Brandon Grace and Rich Litterst, who went on to beat Wellesley's Trevor Ballantyne and Carl Murphy, 6-3, 6-4, for a spot in today's sectional final.

"(Baptista and Eisenberg) played hard, they played really well to get to the quarters," said Dartmouth coach Jim McGonigle. "They finally got going in the second set when they figured out what they wanted to do out there. They hung in there."